Evangelical: Mitt safe on abortion

A prominent evangelical leader says Gov. Mitt Romney won’t have much trouble getting the Christian and evangelical vote if he’s the Republican nominee despite some concern about his support for abortion rights in the past.

“There are lingering concerns about whether he’s really committed to the pro-life cause,” Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told POLITICO on Thursday. “I’m not questioning it because I’ve had the opportunity to hear him personally explain it.”

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Land said he has heard Romney publicly tell stories about researching embryonic research and recognizing that the embryos are human life.

But he recognizes that not every evangelical voter feels the same way because of Romney’s past.

“Not all evangelicals have had the chance to hear him say it personally,” he said.

Still, Land said evangelicals would turn out in a potential general election match-up between President Barack Obama and Romney, if only to vote against Obama.

“That’s what’s ironic about Romney … they know who they’re voting for,” Land said. “In large part, they feel he’s not Mormon enough. If he had the same position on life and on marriage the Mormon faith has, there wouldn’t be a question.”

“The fact is that he’s so far off the reservation that there are lingering concerns about whether he’s really committed to the pro-life cause,” he said.

Land says Christians and evangelicals are more familiar with Mormonism because their preachers have explained the religion to them. He said that makes them possibly more accepting of Mormonism than people with other religious beliefs.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 4:15 p.m. on November 3, 2011.